THPUD 06

Chapter 06 …

A strange environment, strange air.

A place where even a single mistake or moment of carelessness could mean death.

“Phew—.”

Once again, a creeping tension ran up my spine.

It felt like something could suddenly spring out at any moment.

[ This place feels unpleasant. ]

“I completely agree with that.”

A chill ran down my spine…

[ Not a good place for a walk. ]

“···.”

Splash, splash.

My feet sank into the filthy water.

I was just walking, yet my mood became indescribably grim.

It felt like the air itself stank.

It was as if I were looking at a rat that had been gutted and died,

or standing in a trash bin full of cockroaches.

An indescribable —

Bang!

“Ugh!”

Suddenly, a wall burst open.

<Kyaaaak.>

At the same time, sharp teeth, a long tongue, and a stench lunged straight at my face.

An F-rank monster, known as a snout, with no eyes or nose.

[ Kwanghwi, be careful! ]

Thump, thump, thump.

My heart was about to leap out from shock,

but surprisingly, my body moved naturally, just as I had trained.

My head weaved to dodge the monster’s teeth.

Splash, splash.

I stepped back diagonally to create distance.

I rotated my waist quickly to add force,

and swung my arm toward the monster’s neck.

Thwack!

The sword struck the neck directly.

<Keek!>

As expected, the monster’s tough skin blocked the sword.

“Hmph.”

I extended my arm fully, pushing the monster away with the sword while quickly retreating to maintain distance.

Splash, splash.

[ Hmm. Kwanghwi, that was the movement of a skilled knight. Five stars. ]

“Ruth, my strength isn’t enough. Even swinging with all my might, I couldn’t pierce its skin.”

<Kyaaaak!>

Splash, splash.

The monster lunged again.

A simple attack pattern of charging straight forward.

There was no reason I should be caught by such an attack,

but unless I found a way to tear through that tough skin, the longer this went on, the worse it would get.

My stamina is limited, so I’d inevitably lose.

[ Kwanghwi. Try using a heavier weapon. Like an axe. ]

An axe?

“That’s impossible!”

Some hunters do use axes as their main weapon.

But they’re at least D-rank hunters.

For F-rank hunters like me, with ordinary human strength, using an axe would drain my stamina quickly, and even if I was lucky enough to kill one monster, there would be no guarantee I could continue afterward.

<Kyaaaak!>

Splash, splash.

Thwack!

After a few more exchanges,

<Kyat-tak-tak-tak-ak.>

‘?’

The monster froze, its massive teeth clattering as it trembled.

I knew what that was. I’d experienced it before.

“You’ve healed enough to use PIER freely now?”

Unlike me, who was risking my life in battle, Ruth really was just taking a stroll.

[ You can only know something’s weight by lifting it, and length by measuring it. ]

“···What?”

[ That’s what Mencius said. ]

“···?”

What a random thing to say.

[ Kwanghwi. You have Or and me, so you should do what you can. ]

“What I can do?”

[ We’re already winning the fight. So you should do what you can. ]

…Winning the fight in advance? What does that mean?

Is this how God’s agent normally talks?

It’s just a bunch of things I can’t understand…

[ Simply put. If you keep repeating the same actions while knowing you’ll fail, that’s foolish. Kwanghwi. ]

Ah…

So complicated.

“···.”

No…

At first, it spoke simply, but did I ignore it?

Tick, tick, tick, tick.

“Hmph!”

I struck the monster’s head with all my strength, while it stood trembling.

Thwack!

No damage at all. The sword slid back.

This wouldn’t work even if I did it 365 days straight.

…Something I already knew.

Ruth was telling me it’s foolish to keep fighting this way.

I put the sword back in my inventory and took out the axe I’d used for lat exercises.

It felt heavy right from the start.

“Hmph!”

Whoosh!

Thwack!

<Keek!>

Just a little, but damage registered.

[ Go, Kwanghwi. ]

<Kyaaaaaak!>

The monster was freed from PIER.

Second round.

**

Thwack!

.

.

Thwack! Thwack!

Now I understood what it meant to “win the fight in advance.”

<Kyaaaak!>

Splash, splash.

“Huff… huff… huff.”

If the axe felt too heavy, the monster paused like someone pressing pause on a video.

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.

Ruth’s intervention.

There was no way I could lose.

Splash, splash.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

Pffft!

153 axe strikes.

Finally… the monster’s head exploded.

“Huff… huff… huff.”

[ Good job. ]

“Huff… huff… Ruth. My Or just grew a little. I feel stronger too… Is it because I killed the monster?”

After so much axe work, instead of getting tired, I felt stronger.

[ Didn’t I tell you? You have Or, so you don’t need to worry. Or is infinite. ]

“…Infinite? It grows infinitely?”

[ Yes. ]

‘…Then I can become endlessly strong? Growing stronger each time I kill a monster…?’

Something unheard of in my life…

“Haha…”

A creeping mix of tension and excitement ran down my spine.

“Ruth, let’s go buy more low-grade axes! Before it gets dark.”

**

Have hunters ever imagined this?

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.

Monsters frozen in Ruth’s PIER, lined up like soldiers.

Shivering with a clattering sound, they looked utterly out of place.

F-rank dungeon monsters that normally require six E-rank hunters to kill one.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

I just had to chop them with the axe like chopping firewood.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

Of course, it wasn’t exactly easy either.

“Huff… huff… huff! So exhausting. What a stonehead.”

The physical and mental exhaustion was different from just gaining strength.

My muscles screamed.

[ Kwanghwi, is it tiring? ]

“It’s tiring. But I won’t stop until we finish all the monsters here.”

We’d already killed over 600.

Monsters that once needed 150 axe strikes now only needed 140.

Even the heavy axe felt lighter as I grew stronger.

“Let’s go! Or coins going up!”

Thwack! Thwack!

Around 1,600 monsters, my arm muscles began to twitch violently.

Shiver, shiver, shiver.

“…Ruth, see that? Now each monster only takes 135 axe swings.”

[ Kwanghwi, maybe it’s best to stop for today. ]

“Huff… huff… No, we’re finishing this dungeon today!”

Thunk! Thump-thump.

I dropped the axe.

“…Just a mistake, just a mistake.”

[ Excess is worse than deficiency. ]

“Again with Mencius?”

[ Haha! Do you think only Mencius said it? It’s from Confucius’ Analects, written by his disciples. ]

Mencius, Confucius… same difference.

Ethics teachers.

Anyway, Ruth was right.

My body had reached its limit.

“Let’s leave. We can come back tomorrow.”

[ But Kwanghwi. ]

“?”

[ Will we leave these monster corpses behind? ]

**

Local Hunter Arms Store.

A small business dealing in hunter weapons and equipment.

The closest to my house, so I went there.

A shabby container office.

Knock, knock, knock.

“Yes?”

“Hello. I came to sell monster corpses.”

“Come in. Do you have your hunter license?”

“Yes.”

“Please sit. Would you like some coffee?”

“Ah… yes, thank you.”

I handed over my license while drinking coffee. The middle-aged man glanced at it.

“…If these are stolen goods, you’re responsible. Is that okay?”

“Yes…”

“What kind of monster corpse?”

“F-rank snout.”

“Haah~.”

Tatatatatatak.

He sighed, typed something on the computer, and returned my license.

“30 won each. 30% tax. No discounts, no negotiation.”

“Yes.”

“Where’s your warehouse?”

“I don’t have one.”

“No warehouse…?”

The man smiled awkwardly.

“Sorry, our company doesn’t trade F-rank corpses individually. Only in bulk. If you really want to trade, go through the Hunter Association. You won’t even get your transport fee.”

“Oh~ Minimum quantity?”

“50,000. As you know, for F-rank corpses, transport, storage, and labor costs leave almost no profit. That’s why we even accept F-rank.”

Then he turned his head, signaling I should leave.

“Then we’ll trade 200,000 first.”

“Uh… okay?”

**

Every day, Ruth and I entered the F-rank dungeon.

Entering in the morning, we’d leave only after dark.

Exhausted every day, but I grew stronger.

Spending more time in the dungeon than at home,

my inventory was filled with food, daily necessities, and Ruth’s books.

While I chopped monster heads, Ruth lay in the tent, maintaining PIER and reading.

A month later.

<Kyaaaaaak!>

Shreek.

‘Is this how it feels?’

The monster’s skin, which previously didn’t even scratch, now sliced like soft tofu with a light swing.

One monster per swing.

[ Kwanghwi. F-rank monsters are no match for you now. ]

Shreek.

With this strength, I could at least match a C-rank hunter.

“Ruth, let’s enter the E-rank dungeon.”

[E-rank?]

From E-rank dungeons onward, there are magic stones.

Smaller and more expensive than corpses.

**

Actually, the level of E-rank monsters isn’t much different from F-rank.

The only difference is whether they drop magic stones.

That’s why low-rank hunters enter E-rank dungeons.

“Wow, magic stone! Ruth, this is a magic stone. We can sell it to the Hunter Association.”

Even though it’s the lowest-grade stone, I can carry the corpses too, so the same work yields double profit.

Gleefully, we slaughtered monsters.

Shreek. Shreek.

I could hear it.

The sound of money coming in.

Shreek.

“···.”

Shreek.

Shreek.

“Ruth…”

[ ? ]

“Even killing monsters, Or isn’t growing.”

Strangely, I killed a few more monsters… and still, Or didn’t grow.

Could it be that growth has stopped now…?

Ruth said it was infinite.

[ Maybe it’s because they’re E-rank monsters? ]

“Ah… let’s go check the F-rank dungeon again. We need to confirm.”

With a nervous heart, we returned to the F-rank dungeon and killed monsters.

Or… grew.

“Haah…”

The tension I had released.

I guess I was unknowingly anxious that Or wouldn’t grow…

Would I have been this anxious even if no magic stones dropped…?

Now I understood why Or is considered the best.

**

Hunter community.

Title: Where did all the F-rank dungeon monsters go?

Hunter23: I often volunteer at F-rank dungeons. I went this weekend too, but didn’t see many monsters. Did the Association do this?

└ F-rank dungeon actually exists? I never went, didn’t even know it existed.

└ Wow~ volunteering. There are still good people in the world.

└ Is the writer just showing off their good deed?

└ Looks like they’re bragging.

└ I’m a volunteer too, our local F-rank dungeon also had no monsters. Locals said the Association didn’t do it.

└ I’m an Association staff. We’re puzzled too. Where did the F-rank monsters go?

└ The Hunter Association didn’t do it?

└ Maybe something happened in the F-rank dungeon? Shouldn’t we investigate?